


if the dogs like you, you're in

by Marvellous



Series: the simple things [1]
Category: Captain America, Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dogs, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, Steve owns a dog rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 16:36:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14312799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvellous/pseuds/Marvellous
Summary: if Tony wants to get that date, he's gotta get the kids' approval first(*by kids, I mean dogs. five of them.)





	if the dogs like you, you're in

**Author's Note:**

> I am just a sucker for dogs and my OTPs, don't judge me.  
> I'm sure there are errors, as this was written quite quickly. I haven't written these two in an AU in awhile, but here we are :)  
> Enjoy!

Even as young as he was, it was just Tony’s job to be the face of Stark Industries, seeing as he was the only surviving Stark. Usually your 20s were time for exploring, adventure, the whole discovery stage. Here he was at 30 and he hadn't experienced any of that, not really. Instead he was always needed at some publicity event, a fancy luncheon to entice new investors, visiting charities that the company endorsed, everything the magazines needed a face for. This usually meant he had to behave as well, which more or less worked out about half of the time. The press lived for his mistakes. 

This particular day however, he was actually trying not to fuck up. SI head office wanted him to go check out a non profit dog rescue they were considering endorsing, of course with a few photographers to capture the whole event and label it as ‘Tony Stark has a heart after all!’. Which, whatever, he didn’t consider himself a big fan of animals to begin with, so he’d let them have that fair and square.

Except the head of this rescue centre was an incredibly tall, attractive man who loved animals, so Tony was doing his darnedest to play along and make it believable that he did as well. If not completely to impress this Steve Rogers, it was simply so he didn’t actually come across as a complete dick to him.

The tour of the place did end up being a surprise to Tony. He had expected the whole Sarah McLachlan deal, sad little dogs staring at him and some woman explaining the dire circumstances they were in. It was actually the opposite. 

Shield Animal Rescue was more like a haven for all those animals. There were no chain link pens, only open spaces, all with doors leading to an outdoor area for the animals. The majority of which were dogs. Ones with three legs, no eyes, ones so old no one would take them from any other shelter, but here they were happy. 

Tony had let his eyes wander to two dogs wrestling in the outdoor space, green grass and toys spread all over the place, and without realizing had let his mind wander as well, which meant his ears weren't registering the words being said to him.

“Mr. Stark?”

Snapping his head back to the blue eyed man in front of him he nodded, “Sorry. I promise I’m not bored, just easily distracted.”

Steve smiled and shook his head, “It’s fine. I was just telling you about our plan to expand the operation. I’ve got property outside of the city, it’s actually where I live now, but we’d like to build another facility there. We just don’t have enough room to hold the volume of dogs we have here sometimes.”

Tony nodded and listened intently as they had wandered back inside, registering everything but already having made up his mind about this place, even if it wasn't really his decision to make. He didn’t need much more convincing that Steve was really just a good man trying to look after these animals. That was all disregarding the fact that Tony had developed a massive school-girl level type crush on him in the short time since he met him.

“Should we head into our main office? I can give you some more of my contact details in case you need anything else when you leave,” Steve offered after they had finished.

Tony glanced at the two photographers and Happy behind them and with a pointed look at his friend, Happy nodded and rounded up the two photographers back out to the vehicles. He made a mental note to thank Happy later. 

“Sure,” Tony said with a flash of his teeth at the other.

Steve didn’t seem suspicious that it had paired down to the two of them now, leading the way through the doors.

Soft rock music played from the speakers in the office, walls lined with several large dog beds that stretched down a hall behind the desk, a few cats sprawled across the counters and some dogs barking down said hall at the arrival of people. Steve leaned against the counter and smiled at a red haired woman at the computer, “Nat, would you mind printing off my stuff for Mr. Stark?”

“Tony,” Tony corrected, realizing he didn’t like the formal way of addressing him. Not this time. 

“Tony,” Steve repeated, catching Tony’s eyes for a brief second before turning back to the woman, “This is Natasha Romanoff, without her and Peggy I don’t know where I’d be with this place.”

“He just says that because he is terrible with computers,” Natasha said with an amused look towards Tony.

“No, it’s true,” Steve pushed, earning an affectionate roll of the eyes from Natasha.

Tony chuckled softly at the easiness between the two and he wondered briefly if maybe he read Steve wrong, and started to rethink his supposedly brilliant plan to ask the guy out.

“What do you think?” Steve asked as he turned back to Tony, “You think we might have a shot at getting the sponsorship from you guys? Be honest.”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Tony watched as a tan dog about the size of a small cat hopped onto the chair beside Natasha, then the counter and padding over to Steve, tail wagging like a little fluffy whip.

“Honestly?” he said, eyes still on the dog, “I wanna say it’s yours.”

Steve picked up the little thing and turned her over in his arms like a baby, to her sheer delight as she settled and rested the side of her head in the crook of his elbow, “Really?”

“It’s not my call to make, ultimately, but I’ll try and push for you,” Tony said, “I can see you care about what you do.”

“Thank you, I’m glad it shows,” Steve smiled and ducked his head, looking at the dog whose tummy he was rubbing, “But do you think it’s fair?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I kinda assumed you might wanna ask me out or something,” he said with a shrug, still only paying attention to the dog, “And if we did, hypothetically, I don’t know if it’d be fair of my cause above others to get it.”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up, had he been that transparent? Clearly. He briefly looked over to Natasha, who was smirking and taking that as her cue to make herself busy in some other room. “How’d you know?”

“Between the flirting and the way you kept checking out my ass, you mean?”

“Shit.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I mean, I’m surprised, but I’m open to it.”

Not planning to have even gotten to this stage, Tony stumbled for some words, “That’s…unexpected. Okay, well, first off, look, I’m not really in charge of where the money goes. I’m a face for this company now, who sometimes occasionally has good ideas. Head of the company, Pepper Potts, she might listen to me, but if she doesn't like whatever I’m going on about she won’t put up with it. So trust me, I have no sway in who really gets it when it comes down to the nitty gritty.”

Steve was leaning on the counter now and smiling at Tony, some of his blonde hair flopping over his forehead, “Alright then. That just leaves one obstacle.”

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, not missing the glint in Steve’s eyes, “What’s that?”

“My kids have to approve,” he said nonchalantly as he set the little dog back on the counter.

Everything came to a halt. Had he missed something? He was pretty sure he hadn't heard Steve mention kids before. If he had that may have changed things, maybe not, but he certainly didn’t think it would be that quick Steve would want to involve them. 

Steve whistled and from the hall sounded a stampede of paws on laminate flooring.

Relief flooded Tony’s whole body. Furry kids. Still, maybe that wasn’t better.

Four dogs eagerly awaited at Steve’s feet, looking up at him mostly with the occasional glances towards the stranger.

“That’s Cricket,” he said pointing to the tan chihuahua that was now sitting close to Tony, tilting her head and making her collar jingle as she met his eyes, “She does what she wants and she's a suck for attention.”

Tony smirked at the little thing before being introduced to the four others as well.

There was Winter, a huge polar bear of a dog that was Steve’s oldest that he rescued from the side of a highway. Then there were the brothers, Scout and Bear, a snazzy looking pair that had husky/german shepherd roots. They had been surrendered by some people that lived in an apartment and couldn't give them the exercise they needed. And finally, one-eyed Pip, a short and stocky young pup who was shaped like a corgi, but had the markings of a border collie, complete with one floppy ear. She seemed most content snug between Steve’s feet.

“Then there are the cats at home, Toby and Max, but they’re typical felines and don’t really like anyone, so they don’t count,” Steve finished after he had went through the ranks, clearly happy with his little pack of rag tag dogs.

Tony was afraid they could all sense the nervousness on him and surely would turn their owner against him. Dogs had like a sixth sense, so why wouldn't they? Instead though, when he crouched down to their level and extended a hand, he was met with wagging tails. Scout was the first one to push himself against him, sharing his shedding coat while asking for more pets, soon joined by Pip whose whole body wiggled excitedly when Tony laughed. 

“So does this mean I’m good? Passed the screening?” Tony looked up at Steve with a wink.

Steve looked at Cricket still sitting patiently on the counter, her jaws slack in a little grin as she let out a yip, “I think so.” 

“So it’s a date?”

“It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos always very much appreciated! <3
> 
> Also, I definitely have more ideas for little snippets of this verse if there is enough interest in more...:P


End file.
